I’m flying back from the Independent Garden Center Show, skimming through the company descriptions in the show guide, and I’m astonished. In a shocking percentage of the writeups, I have to read all the way to the end to figure out what the company does – and in some cases, I still don’t know! Here’s just one typical example: (Click on the headline for more…)
Marketing Strategy
A Case Study in Dealing With a Bad Economy
In an interesting juxtaposition, I talked to the owners of two competing companies just a couple days apart. (Click on the headline for more…)
What Really Matters to Your Customers?
The recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference included an excellent presentation by Robyn Waters, former Vice President of Trend, Design and Product Development for Target, on the subject of designing with heart.
Robyn dramatically illustrated that a crucial element of success is not identifying and jumping on the latest trend, but listening to what’s truly important to your customers on an emotional level.
One of my favorite examples (Click on the headline for more…)
Building Customer Engagement: Some Novel Approaches
In my last post, I mentioned some of the ways Terrain at Styer’s, the Philadelphia nursery owned by Urban Outfitters, is expanding their market. One of the key elements in their program is events, including those that reach far beyond the traditional gardening how-to offerings. Their July calendar includes the following: (Click on the headline for more…)
Lessons From Terrain in Attracting Younger Gardeners
At the recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference, I had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by John Kinsella, Managing Director of Terrain at Styer’s, the much-ballyhooed new garden center owned by Urban Oufitters.
I have not visited Terrain, so I have no basis on which to form a personal opinion of it. I’ve heard it touted as brilliant marketing to younger, newbie gardeners, and I’ve heard it panned as overpriced and overmerchandised. Terrain has expanded the traditional garden center and landscaping services to include (Click on the headline for more…)
